Love Bug Biscuits
(From BBC Good Food)
Ingredients/necessary equipment
- 175g plain flour
- 100g chilled butter, cubed
- 85g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg yolk
- 500g ready-to-roll fondant icing
- Red food colouring
- 100g icing sugar
- Black food colouring
- Edible pearly ball decorations
- 8cm heart-shaped cutter
- 6cm heart-shaped cutter
- Food processor
Instructions
- Pour the butter, flour, sugar, vanilla and egg yolk in a food processor.
- Dribble in 1 tbsp water and mix until the mixture comes together to form a dough. Tip onto a work surface and knead briefly to bring together, then wrap in cling film and chill for 20 mins.
- Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Roll out the dough to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use your 8cm heart cutter to stamp out heart shapes – you’ll have to re-roll the trimmings to make 20 biscuits. Put the hearts on 2 baking trays and bake for 12 mins, swapping the trays over halfway through, until pale golden and crisp. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
- Dye your lump of icing with red food colouring and wrap in cling film until ready to roll. Mix the icing sugar with enough water to make a thick icing. Dye the icing with the black food colouring. Pour the icing into a piping bag with a small plain nozzle attached (or use a small sandwich bag and snip off the corner). Roll out the red icing to 3mm thick and use your 6cm cutter to stamp out hearts. Stick onto the biscuits with a little of the black icing.
- Share and enjoy!
Pink Swirled Meringues
(from bakingmad.com)
Ingredients/necessary equipment
- 1tsp Pink food colouring
- 1tsp Rose water
- 150g White caster sugar
- 3 Egg whites
- 150g Raspberries
- 2tbsp Icing sugar
- 150ml Double cream
- Preheat oven to 120C.
- Beat the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl until the whites doubled volume and hold peaks. While the whisk is still running add the sugar a tablespoon at a time, until they are all glossy and hold a stiff peak.
- Fold in the rose water. Careful not to over-beat.
- On two baking trays – line them with baking paper to avoid the mixture sticking.
- Pour 1 tbsp of the pink food colouring onto a saucer and use a wide pastry brush to spread a line of the colouring up the inside of a piping bag. Spoon meringue mixture into bag.
- Pipe the meringue into 3.5mm swirls.
- Bake for 1.5 hours until they are crisp.
- Turn off oven but leave them in there to cool for at least an other hour.
- For the raspberry coulis, blend the raspberries and 1tbsp icing sugar into a puree.
- Set a sieve over a clean bowl and sieve through the puree to remove the raspberry pips.
- Whisk the cream and remaining icing sugar until softly peaked.
- Swirl in the coulis.
- Spoon the cream into half the meringues and sandwich together.